Improvement in car-couplings



W. W. SCOTT.

Oar-Coupling.

No. 217.821. Patented July 22,1879.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM W. SCOTT, OF SUMNER, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-THIRD HIS RIGHT TO 0. H. OLOUGH AND J. W. MITCHELL, OF NEW HAMPTON, IOWA.

CAR-COUPLINGS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 217,821., dated July 22, 1879; application filed April 29, 1879.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM W. ScoTT, of Sumner, in the county of Bremer and State of Iowa, have invented a new and Improved Gar- Ooupling; and I do hereby declare that the following is afull, clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention is an improvement in the class of car-couplings whose engaging devices are pivoted hooks or draw-bars; and it consists in the employment of coupling-hooks or drawbars having pivoted heads to adapt them for engagement with bumpers having slotted heads, which are set inclined, the object being to enable cars of diflerent heights to be coupled.

In accompanyingdrawings, forming part of this specification, Figure l is a side view of my improved coupling, part being broken away; and Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same. Fig. 3 is a side View of one of the coupling devices in the position it would assume when connecting cars of unequal height.

The draw-heads or bumpers A A have heads a a, which are set inclined backward from the vertical at a slight angle, and provided with a notch or slot, b, in the upper edge. The base of slot or notch is provided with an aperture for the admission of a common coupling-pin. The buffer-heads a a have ahorizontal aperture for reception of an ordinary couplinglink, the object sought being to enable me to use the common link-and-pin coupling with cars having my improved drop-coupling attachment. A straight or crooked draw-bar, B, is pivotedin the rear part of each bumper, and has a crosshead, 0, pivoted to its outer or free end.

When cars provided with my coupler are brought together, the pivoted draw-bar B of one of them is thrown down and enters the notch or slot bin the head a of the opposite bumper, A, while its head 0 lies behind and in contact with said head a. The head G of the draw -.bar being pivoted, it will lie flat against the latter, whether the cars be of the same or unequal height, and the rearward inclination of the head a prevents the draw-bar head 0 from sliding upward and thus becoming detached when the car to which its drawbar is pivoted is higher than the other, as would often be the case if the heads a were placed vertical.

A rod may be attached to each draw-bar B for raising it, and thus uncoupling the cars.

I do not claim a draw-head having its front portion setinclined backward; and I am aware that a coupling has been devised in which a pivoted draw-bar having a fixed hook or head has been provided with a looselyrattached or movable head; but such movable head is employed solely to facilitate the coupling operation, and is not movable or self-adj ustin g with respect to the draw-bar proper and the drawhead when engaged with the latter. The construction and operation of such coupling are therefore foreign to my invention.

What I claim is- The combination of the pivoted draw-bar B and its head 0, consisting of a block which is attached thereto by a pivot, and the bumper having its head a notched and set inclined backward, as shown and described, whereby the said head is movable or self-adjustable on its pivot while engaged with the draw-head, for the purpose specified.

W. W. SCOTT.

Witnesses A. V. BLAIR,

O. G. SPEARS. 

